Trust Contests

Toledo Trust Contest Attorneys

Our firm was founded in 1946 and is now known as Kolb & Zigray. We now represent clients on a contingency basis who are involved in probate litigation such as trust contests.

Typically trusts are contested on the theory of undue influence and incompetence. For a discussion of undue influence and incompetence, see the will contest page. Other contested trust issues include fraud, duress and breach of fiduciary duty.

Trusts are often "Secret" and "Unsupervised"

A trust contest can be much more difficult than a will contest because the document is more complicated and because it is "cloaked in secrecy"; unlike a will contest, often the trust contestant does not have a copy of the trust and does not know what the assets are and who the beneficiaries are. He may not even know who the trustee is. We have developed ways to find out this information.

Unlike the probate of wills which is supervised by the Probate Court, a trust administration is not supervised by the Court. Many trusts are poorly drawn and many individual trustees have little knowledge of what they are doing. Some trustees only look after their own interests and ignore the interests of the other trust beneficiaries.

If a trustee has fraudulent intentions, hiding behind the secrecy of a trust is an effective way to carry out such intentions.

Trust contests are a growing area of probate litigation. We often find the dispute is not over the trust itself, but rather over a last minute trust amendment that drastically alters the initial trust plan. Since January, 2007, trusts are governed by the Ohio Trust Code. This office participated in drafting certain provisions of the Trust Code which deal with trust disputes.

Common Factual Scenarios in Trust Contests

We have found that there are several recurring themes in trust contests. The following scenarios are some examples which often raise a "red flag" signaling that a challenge to a trust may be appropriate:

• Last minute amendments to a trust
• Amending a trust when a person is very ill, or while in the hospital, or living in a nursing home
• The trust is amended while a person is under court guardianship
• Amendment to a trust made by a new attorney instead of the long-standing attorney
• Only one child is included as a beneficiary of the trust while the other children are excluded
• The second spouse is the sole beneficiary of the trust and the children from the first marriage are excluded

Contact Us

If you wish to challenge or defend a trust or trust amendment, please contact Kolb & Zigray.